HOUSTON (Ticker) -- On most nights, it is the Portland Trail
Blazers' big men that frighten opponents. Tonight it was their
littlest man who was the Houston Rockets' nightmare.

Damon Stoudamire scored 15 of the Trail Blazers' final 17 points
and dished out the assist that led to the other basket as they
held off a rally to pull out a 96-85 victory.

"We ran a lot of plays for him in the fourth," Portland coach
Mike Dunleavy said. "We cleared things out so he could operate.
He did a great job with the pick-and-roll. He was great for us
down the stretch."

Stoudamire scored a season-high 31 points, dished out six
assists and made four steals. He hit 10-of-17 from the field,
10-of-11 from the line and stole the show down the stretch after
the Rockets got back in the game.

Despite the numbers, Stoudamire downplayed his role in the
victory, denying any hero's honors.

"That's not really the way it works," he said. "With our team,
it's somebody different every night. Tonight I had a good
night. I got to the line a lot and that was the key."

"He had a career day," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "He
made some tough shots and some desperation threes. He drove to
the basket and our guys didn't get him."

Rasheed Wallace, perhaps the best of the Blazers' impressive
front line, scored 14 of his 22 points in the third quarter,
when the Blazers built their largest lead at 70-52 with 1:57
left.

The Rockets fought back with a 23-6 run, getting within 76-75 on
a 3-pointer by Steve Francis with 7:08 to play. But the 5-10
Stoudamire came up too big down the stretch.

He capped a 12-4 charge with a 3-pointer that gave Portland an
88-79 lead with 1:47 left, and hit four free throws and a pair
of madcap drives into the lane down the stretch, negating
3-pointers by Walt Williams and Cuttino Mobley.

Francis scored 24 points and dishY zÕÑsix assists for the
Rockets before he fouled out with 1:19 left. Mobley and Maurice
Taylor scored 12 apiece.

Dale Davis added 11 points and 12 rebounds for Portland, which
beat Houston for the second time in 10 days, improved to 7-4 on
the road and won for the sixth time in seven games.

The Blazers did a lot of damage in the third quarter, when they
forced nine turnovers and capitalized on them for 12 points.

After leading 46-44 at halftime, they opened the third quarter
with a 24-8 charge, capped by Wallace's 10-footer that made it
70-52 with 1:58 left in the period.

Wallace scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds in the run,
while Stoudamire had three steals and Smith had one.

"In the third quarter, we turned the ball over too much and
every time we did, they put the ball in the basket," Francis
said. "We've got to find ways to play through stretches like
that. It wasn't their defensive scheme -- we just didn't
execute our offense in the third quarter."

Francis scored seven points to lead Houston's 17-4 run to open
the four. His 3-pointer with 7:08 left had the Rockets within
76-75.

Wallace showed his range, nailing a 3-pointer. After Davis
blocked Kenny Thomas' short jumper, Stoudamire hit a pair of
free throws to put Portland up 81-75 with 4:49 left.

Thomas brought Houston within four points again with 3:49 to
play, but Stoudamire nailed a 20-footer then connected on a
3-pointer and the Blazers led 88-79 with 1:47 to play.

"They made their run like we thought they would, but we kept
control of the game," Blazers forward Scottie Pippen said.
"Thanks to our defense we held strong."

After Williams cut the lead to six points with a 3-pointer,
Stoudamire hit two from the line, and after Mobley nailed
another from long range to cut Portland's lead to 90-85,
Stoudamire drove into the lane and pulled up in traffic for a
short jumper.

The Rockets could not score, and had to foul the Blazers' point
guard, who again hit two from the line, making it 94-85 with 39
seconds to go. He capped the night with a finger roll with 6.7
seconds to play.